Indianapolis charter school network receives $12.5 million for teacher merit bonuses

Teachers at three Indianapolis charter schools could see merit bonuses as high as $40,000 at the end of each school year, thanks to a $12.5 million donation from a trust funded by a group of anonymous donors.The United Schools of Indianapolis, a group of three charter schools that together serve around 900 students in grades K-8, alreayd gives merit bonuses at the end of the school year, but this new donation will allow their most effective teachers to receive even more money. Those extra bonuses could help the schools retain their highest-performing teachers and staff and will supplement the existing annual bonus pool of $150,000.The top performing 30% of teachers and administrators at the schools – Avondale Meadows Academy, Avondale Meadows Middle School and Vision Academy Riverside – will now receive an average bonus of $15,000, Kelly Herron, the executive director of USI, told a gym full of teachers Friday.

“We know that high performing teachers who stay with the school for an extended period of time develop a much deeper understanding of their students' strengths and challenges, allowing them to provide targeted interventions and personalized support,” Herron said.

Each year the highest-performing teacher at the schools will receive an award of $40,000.

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The bonus acknowledges the hard work teachers do every day, said Karina Cavillo-Brown, an instructional coach at Vision Academy Riverside.

“There's a lot that we're doing and I'm glad that people are starting to see and (teachers) are about to be rewarded for all of the many great things that we do that nobody actually sees,” Cavillo-Brown said.

While most teachers don't enter the field for the pay, Stanley Rousonelos, a seventh and eighth-grade English language arts teacher at Vision Academy Riverside said, it is nice to work for a school where pay is competitive with surrounding school districts.

“I don't want to live paycheck to paycheck and I want to be able to invest and I want to be able to buy things outside of just buying groceries and filling my gas tank,” Rousonelos said. “So it's nice to be able to still be able to live a quality life and be a teacher.”

Everyone on staff at the USI schools is eligible for a merit-based bonus. Around 35 teachers and staff will see the extra pay each year.

Teacher evaluations are based on three categories: personal and professional responsibility; student achievement, which is based on academic growth and standardized test scores; and family and community engagement.

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The three charter schools, all of which are authorized by the Indianapolis Mayor's Office of Education Innovation, will receive $500,000 annually for the next 25 years.

The donation is made possible by the VITAL (Vigilance In Teaching and Learning) trust, which is funded by multiple anonymous donors who requested the gift go to performance-based bonuses for faculty. Donors were impressed by the merit-bonus system USI already utilizes, said Mark Roath, a trust officer at Regions Bank, which is handling the trust.

“They understand that these schools in these areas, inner-city schools, have made huge strides to close the achievement gap in helping transform these Indianapolis communities that have struggled for decades with crime, poverty and struggling school systems,” Roath said on Friday.

Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.

Caroline’s reporting is made possible by Report for America and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy charter schools receive $12.5M donation for teacher bonuses